Promised Virgins

November 10, 2008
Fleishman, a war correspondent and Pulitzer Prize finalist, writes what he knows in this admirable but flawed Syriana
-esque novel. Jay Morgan is a veteran journalist who has seen it all. Stationed in Kosovo—and breaking a “cardinal rule” by sleeping with his beautiful translator, Alijah—he is in hot pursuit of “the dateman,” an Osama bin Laden–like figure who has recently set up camp in the mountains. Meanwhile, Alijah, the survivor of violence, hopes to find her missing brother who she suspects has enlisted with the guerrillas. As Jay and Alijah inch closer to their goals, it becomes clear that the individuals they pursue are more entwined than they could have imagined. The specter of 9/11 hangs over Fleishman’s account of war, which is often filled with rich and provocative insights. Yet despite occasional moments of revelation and beauty, the book’s devastating conclusion doesn’t pay off quite the way it should, largely owing to Alijah, who remains a mystery to Jay and thus comes off as a romanticized ideal. While the narrative hits the right intellectual notes, it misses the human ones.